She lifted her eyes to look at him. Lincoln was sitting in the chair next to her bed, waiting patiently for her to finish. But he didn’t look ill at ease or nervous. No, he looked cool, calm and confident. In short, he didn’t look like a man who thought he’d have to bribe his way into the room. He looked like a man who’d already made whatever decision had to be made. And it made her feel distinctly uncomfortable.
She set down the chocolate cupcake, praying whatever he said wasn’t about to ruin her appetite. ‘What do you want, Linc?’
He nodded slowly, his eyes fixing on hers. ‘We need to talk, Amy.’
She bit her lip. Where was this going to go? ‘What about?’
He sat a little straighter. ‘Baby Esther is ready to go home—to go back to the White House. She’s ready for discharge, and once I finish her paperwork, the plans will be in place.’
Amy nodded. What did this have to do with her?
Lincoln’s face was serious. ‘Once she’s ready to go, I have to go. We have to go.’
The penny dropped. Like a huge boulder throwing itself off the edge of a cliff. ‘Oh.’
She should have known this was coming. At first, it hadn’t even occurred to her—the fact that Lincoln wouldn’t be staying here. She’d been so caught up in getting to where he was and making him agree to look after her baby that she’d had tunnel vision. But after a few days stuck as an inpatient in Pelican Cove she’d started to worry. The First Lady wasn’t likely to stay here for long. What would happen then? The truth was, she’d more or less expected to have her baby in a matter of days. But Junior seemed to be making his own plans.
‘So, it’s time to make a decision.’ Amy felt as if she could throw up. Once baby Esther left, there was no reason for any of the staff or facilities that had been spirited into Pelican Cove to stay. What about her? What about her baby? And why did Lincoln look so calm?
‘I need to pack up all the NICU equipment and arrange for my staff to return to San Francisco.’
Duh. She’d just realised that.
‘I need to return to San Francisco, as I’ve got duties and commitments there…’
She nodded dumbly. Of course he did.
‘So I thought it best to make some arrangements for you and the baby.’ He picked up her chart. She hadn’t even noticed him bringing it into the room. Arrangements. Did he know how clinical that sounded?
‘David still has some concerns about your condition. You’re coming up on twenty-nine weeks, but your blood pressure is still borderline—even with the anti-hypertensives—and you’re still showing protein in your urine.’
His hand brushed against hers, his voice softening, becoming less businesslike and more friendlike. ‘Chances are, this baby is still going to come early. You came to Pelican Cove because you wanted me to be the one to look after your baby. Is that still what you want, Amy?’
She nodded. Words escaped her right now. Her mind was too full of jumbled thoughts to say anything coherent. Where was this going?
Lincoln nodded and gave her a little smile. ‘In that case, I think I might have found a solution for us, then.’
‘Solution?’ The word gave her hope. Because, right now, she needed some.
‘You can come back to San Francisco with me.’ There. He’d said it. The words that had been coiled up inside his chest since he’d came to the conclusion a few hours ago. In his head, that made perfect sense.
Right now he was leaving out the way he felt drawn to her room in the hospital, day or night, for no good reason. She was like a magnet to him and he was instantly drawn.
And in his head that was perfect. She’d disappeared out of his life before and he’d no intention of letting it happen again. But this time he’d be more careful. Amy had searched him out. She’d come to find him. She wanted his skills and expertise—and she could have them. And maybe it could give him some time to work out how he felt about her.
It took him a few seconds to realise she hadn’t spoken. She seemed frozen to the spot, or to the bed. Her mouth was hanging open, and her hands had the slightest tremor.
Time to fill in the blanks. Time to persuade her it was most reasonable and viable option for her.
‘I know you’ve been looked after in Santa Maria—but you came here because you didn’t have a physician there you could trust. And the most important thing is that you have someone you trust looking after your baby.
‘David will be staying in Pelican Cove. He could continue to treat you, if that’s what you prefer. But even he is worried about an early delivery. The normal protocol in Pelican Cove is that someone in your condition would be transferred to San Francisco Children and Maternity Hospital—where we have excellent facilities for neonates.’ He let her take in the words, rationalise it in her brain.
‘I can arrange for one of the obstetricians there to take over your care. There are two I would absolutely trust with my life. I wouldn’t recommend them to you otherwise.’ He ran his fingers through his tousled hair, a sign of his nerves. Was this going well?
‘We could arrange to get there tomorrow. I’ll get one of the obstetricians to review you immediately and decide on how to proceed. If there’s any emergency, I’ll be close by and available to be at the delivery.’
His words hung in the air. There. He’d said them. And whilst he knew every word he’d said was true, there was still that tiny little bit of him that knew there was an element of emotional blackmail in there. He was using her fear for her child to get her exactly where he wanted her.
He didn’t like the word manipulate. It seemed like something from a bad-guy movie. Something that the villain did. But he’d never said he was perfect. He’d never said he didn’t have flaws. He was just a man. Trying to get his girl.
Amy’s hands were resting on the bedside table—probably to control a tremor. She thought of her empty apartment in Santa Maria, with the baby’s things still flat-packed into boxes. She didn’t have any family any more, but she had good friends there who were happy to help out and support her. She was lucky that she had regular hours at the clinic that meant she could plan her childcare hours in advance. So why did it feel as if all the plans she had made were crumbling around her?
‘But where would I stay? I don’t know anyone in San Francisco?’ It looked as if it was just one of a million thoughts that were currently scurrying around in her brain.
‘That’s easy. You’ll stay with me.’
Amy choked, then coughed and spluttered, her face turning redder and redder by the second. Lincoln jumped to his feet and leapt behind her, thumping his hand on her back until she stopped then grabbing a glass of water from the nearby locker and handing it to her. ‘Here, take this.’
She took a little sip, taking in deep frantic breaths, trying to fill her lungs with the air that seemed to have been sucked from them when he’d said those words.
She blew the air out slowly through thick pursed lips, then turned to face him. ‘How on earth can I come and stay with you, Lincoln? You haven’t seen me in six years. You don’t owe me anything. Yes, I want you to deliver my baby but I don’t expect anything else from you, and I certainly don’t expect this.’
Her voice was slow and steady, but he could see the panic in her eyes. She was frantic, swimming in an ocean where she was out her depth and being pulled out with the current. Seemed she was as scared of the scenario as he was.
‘Amy, the fact is you can stay anywhere you want to. But if you are going to come to San Francisco, it makes sense that you stay with a friend. There’s no point in running up a hotel bill—you could deliver tomorrow, or in six weeks’ time. And in your current condition it makes even more sense if that friend has some medical expertise.’ The words were plain. Sensible, and he knew it. They sounded rational and reasonable.
They
didn’t tell her that his heart was suddenly thudding against his chest and his stomach was turning inside out at the thought of her not agreeing to this.
‘I’d like to think that as soon as we get to San Francisco one of my colleagues will assess you. They might even want to admit you. But if, like Pelican Cove, they want to see you on a daily basis, it makes sense that you stay with me. I live five minutes away from the hospital in a two-bedroom apartment. I’ve got a housekeeper that comes in twice a week, so you won’t feel obliged to do anything. Just relax with your feet up and wait for this baby to arrive.’
She was still silent. It looked as if she were trying to formulate words in her brain. Was she looking for an easy way to let him down? To tell him she couldn’t possibly stay with him? He couldn’t hear that.
It was time to play his trump card.
He kept his voice strong and confident. He wanted her to feel assured, safe. He also wanted to play to her fun side. ‘Look at it this way, Amy, you’ll get to do another thing on your list.’
‘My list?’ Her eyes were blank, as if the list was the last thing on her mind.
Lincoln nodded and touched her hand. ‘I didn’t mention where I stay, did I? I’ve got an apartment in Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. It’s actually just where the cable cars turn to start their journey again. You’ll have number seven on your list at your fingertips.’